The Library
by Zaxaramas
Summary: Lily Evans befriends Frank Sinatra. (Not that Frank Sinatra)


**A/N: I don't like James Potter, but i wanted to write about Lily, so this happened.**

* * *

She comes into the library most days. Whether for a book or homework, she comes in, red hair flowing. The table I sit at is fairly deep, past the common bookshelves, and out of sight. Perhaps that's why She is the only other person that comes in this far. Now entering our fifth year, The closest anyone else has come was Madam Pince to get a book. Sometimes She comes in angry and puts her books down with slightly more force than is strictly necessary. We've never exchanged a single word, I've barely spoken a word since I've been in this castle. Sometimes she stares at me, as if she wants to engage me in conversation, but doesn't quite know how to. Today she sits opposite me, she's clearly been crying. Sniffles and puffy red eyes.

"It's Lily, isn't it?" I ask, not looking up from my book. Hippogryphs. She visibly jumps.

"You spoke!" She says, momentarily forgetting her sorrow.

"An odd quirk for humans, I'm sure." A smirk plays on my lips. She looks down, blushing slightly.

"Sorry, It's just … nobody's heard you speak before." She dabs her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. I glance up at her and conjure a small handkerchief, She lets out small gasp. "That's sixth year material." She picks up the small cloth anyway. "Thank you." She returns to drying her eyes, and apparently using the action to inspect the conjuration. I look back down at my book. Lily takes a minute to compose herself. "What are you reading?"

"A book about hippogryphs." I turn the page. "How do you suppose they found out hippogryphs enjoy eating eggs?"

"Er, What?" I spin the book and push it across the table.

"Perhaps the Zoologist was eating their breakfast and the hippogryph came along and decided to try it." I cross my arms on the table. Lily takes a moment to read the previous page. "Although they say only salted eggs. Maybe it's the salt and not the eggs."

"This wasn't how I pictured our first conversation would go." She laughs softly, pushing the book back to me. She smiles at me as we lock eyes briefly.

"You'll be late." I say, turning another page. I glance up at her, She's looking at me oddly. "You're a prefect." Her eyes widen and she stands up abruptly, scooping her arm through a strap of her bag. She mumbles something under her breath and hurries off, not looking back

* * *

Lily comes in after dinner the next day, humming as she often does. "You weren't at dinner." She says as she unpacks her quill and large book.

"I've not eaten in the Great Hall since our first year." I say, continuing to read my book. "Excluding the term feasts, of course."

"Of course." She retorts. A smile tugs at my lips. She begins to write a potions essay, judging by the book. Her notes slowly get pushed out further over the table as time passes.

I watch as she looks between her notes and the essay, scribbling over certain parts after conferring with a scrap of parchment. Clearly this is a mere draft, she doesn't strike me as the type to hand in something with scribbled out words. She pushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear, I realise I've probably been watching her for too long and drop my eyes back to my book. Four years and I barely acknowledged her, I suppose I've making up for lost time.

* * *

A week later, October 30th, Lily enters the library crying. It's not happened many times as she has usually stopped before she gets here. I conjure a handkerchief on the table where she usually sits. When she reaches the table she slumps into the chair and rest head head in her arms against the table. I've got no idea how I can comfort her, I choose not to pry and dip into a book.

"I hate him." She says angrily after wiping her eyes a few mintes after arriving.

"Him?" I close the book.

"_Potter._" She spits the name. James, no doubt. No other Potter in the school. The fifth year Gryffindor prefect. He coined my nickname "Franky" back in our second year. "He had the audacity to ask me to go to Hogsmeade this weekend. Then, when I declined he tried to kiss me." My hand clenches around my wand under the table.

"Do you want me to beat him up or something?" I ask. She laughs. I don't think I could beat _her_ up, let alone James Potter.

"He's not setting a good example for the younger students, he's supposed to be a prefect." She huffs and takes a deep breath before taking out a book.

* * *

It took a lot of smooth talking, but I went to the kitchens after Lily left the library. I managed to talk a house-elf into letting me charm a cup that will be placed at the Gryffindor table tomorrow at dinner. I said that James pulled enough pranks and he wouldn't mind if I did this. The elf was hesitant, but complied. I fight the smile off of my face as I approach the Great Hall, I can't give it away yet. I ignore the stares of my house mates as I sit at the Ravenclaw table. I can't even remember most of their names. I spot Lily looking at me, I wink at her and turn my attention to James. The cup closest to him is charmed with a compulsion charm so that only he will pick it up. When he drinks from it the rest of the charms will activate. He laughs and whispers with Black and Lupin, his little gang of pranksters. I hear my own table talk about me, most of them only ever see me during lessons. One of them starts whistling 'Fly me to the moon' as my surname is also Sinatra. The purebloods don't get it, but every half-blood and muggleborn think it's the funniest thing.

I see James reach for his cup and take a sip before putting it back on the table. I added the delay so it wouldn't be obvious that it was his cup, I wouldn't want the house-elf getting in trouble or the joke being traced to me. James coughs once and his eyes widen as he realises some thing's happening. His hand begins to turn green as he stares at it, the colour slowly edges up his arm. His friends laugh wildly at the ever spreading colour. Only a moment later and it reaches his face, turning his skin and hair bright green. He flicks his wand over his body, trying to remove the colouring. It's no use of course, It will be like that for two days at least. I stand up and sling my bag over one shoulder. I probably look suspicious as I sat down and barely ate, but I wanted to see my work unfold

"It's not funny!" A girlish voice screams as I reach the door. The voice altering charm.

* * *

"How long will it last?" Lily asks me the next day. I hadn't heard her come in.

"How long will what last?" I ask innocently.

"You come in for a non-essential dinner and watch Potter before it even happened." She leans forward in her chair. "I know it was you even if no one else does." I give in and smile, re-shelving my book.

"About two days." She laughs melodically. "I think Boot could remove it if he really wanted to." Professor Boot is the charms professor and head of Ravenclaw.

"How did you learn to do that?" She asks me, removing her robe. I gesture to the bookshelves.

"I sit in here everyday." I might venture into the restricted section from time to time, the more complex stuff is kept in there. The theory for the spreading could be used with things like flesh-eating curses instead of just colouring. Not something that should be in a school in my opinion.

"Can you teach me some of it?" She asks, drumming her fingers on the table, something she does when she's anxious.

"I'm not really the tutor type. You'd be better off reading the books." I tap the book infront of me. She pouts.

"Please?" Any resolve I had melts away.

* * *

Charms is my speciality. Lily prefers potions, She is probably capable of achieving a mastery in the subject already. She offered to help me with potions in exchange for tutoring in charms, but I declined as an O is enough for me.

"Right, The switching charm." I lean back on my chair lazily after placing two quills at the end of the table where she stands, one black and one white. "The most widely accepted incantation is 'Transibit', followed by a small twist of your wand." I recite. "Invented in 1237 by a man known only as Henry as a means of getting dressed. Later adapted into the 'dressing charm' which, in itself, was then made into the fabled 'undressing charm'." I grin at Lily. She arches an elegant eyebrow at the end.

"All in the books, you say?" She puts her hands on her hips. I tap the black quill.

"You won't get your chair back until you can do it." I shrank all the chairs except my own.

She eyes the quills for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip. "_Transibit."_ The quills don't move in the slightest. She drops her wand to her side and pouts.

"You have to picture the quills in different place. Maybe get closer and tap one of them." I suggest. "These things don't have a very long range, or I'd have just switched my cup with Potter's." Lily takes a step closer to the table.

"_Transibit." _She adds a little flick to the side, as if trying to guide the quills. Ineffectual of course. "_Transibit._" She tries again with a little more force.

"Hang on." I stand up, causing my own chair to shrink.

"How the-" She stops when I walk behind her and hold her hand.

"This is the only way you can get the movement right without practice I think." I twist her hand gently. "Sort of like you're putting a screw into a shelf or something." I let go and lean back on the bookshelf. "Give it a go." She turns away from me, attempting to hide her blush.

"_Transibit._" She twists her wand slightly clockwise whilst pointing at the white quill. This time it works, the black quill switches places with it partner.

"There we go. That wasn't so hard, was it?" I clap mockingly.

"Easy. All you had to do was invade my personal space." She quips.

* * *

"Say, Frank." Lily says slowly one day in November.

"Frank." I quickly say, turning the page in my book.

"Have your parents signed your Hogsmeade form?" She carries on as if I didn't say anything. I look up to see her biting her lip, I feel oddly inclined to bite it myself.

"No." Her face drops slightly. "But I can go, if that was what you wanted to know." I relocate my spot and continue reading about the protego shield charm.

"How come?"

"My parents weren't too pleased to learn that I was a wizard, they're the religious type, so they sent me to live with my Uncle, He works as a photographer for the Daily Prophet." Apparently a protego can't stop solid objects.

"Oh." She says. "Do you want to go to Hogsmeade some time?" I'm sure she's biting her lip right now, so I keep my eyes trained on my book.

"Like a date?" A smile threatens to break over my face.

"N-no! Just … an outing." She protests.

"An outing date?" I flick my eyes up for a moment. Blush confirmed.

"You can be really infuriating sometimes." She crosses her arms.

"Sure, I'll go on a not-date outing date with you." I lay my book on the table. "What's even down there?"

"You've never been?" She looks surprised.

"Lily, I spend most of my time sitting here. Hogsmeade could be a theme park for all I know." I laugh at the thought. "I heard that the head girl from last year works at the pub down there actually."

"How did you possibly know that?"

"A listening charm on the table near the entrance to the library. A group of girls like to sit there and gossip sometimes." I flick my book open.

"Isn't that an invasion of their privacy? What if it's something personal?"

"Then the weird boy that lives in the library would know. Not that they'd know I know though." Contego, physical shield. "They've started using privacy charms now anyway."

"I suppose people would be able to overhear them anyway..." Lily shakes her head. "There's a bookshop, not that you have any lack of books, A clothes shop, a sweet shop, several restaurants, two pubs or 'taverns' as the wizards insist on calling them, a post office, houses and the shrieking shack."

"Sounds ominous."

"Haunted apparently." She shrugs. "Meet me outside the Great Hall at … 9?" I nod. She gathers her books and slings her bag over her shoulder. "I have to put up with Potter for an hour." She sighs.

"Good luck. Try not to inspect any broom cupboards." I call out. She flips her middle finger up over her shoulder.

* * *

I sit on a bench in front of the Great Hall, reading a book.

"Is that a new student?" Someone whispers loudly as they walk past me.

"No, That's Frank Sinatra." "The singer?" "Not _that _Frank Sinatra."

"Sorry I'm late." Lily says as she arrives.

"Technically you're early and I'm just really early." I snap the book shut, causing someone nearby to jump from the noise. "Ready?" I glance over at Lily, she nods and tightens her scarf.

We exit the castle and slowly walk towards the carriages, chatting idly. A group of Slytherins eye us with obvious disdain as we walk past them. Charming people. There's an empty carriage with waiting Thestrals.

"Quite something, aren't they?" I pat the neck of the closest one.

"What are you talking about?" Lily wrinkles her nose. "There's nothing there."

"Thestrals." I take her hand and place it against the skeletal horse. "You have to have seen death to be able to see them, a defence mechanism probably. I don't take CoMC."

"Who have you seen that's died?" Lily asks softly.

"Hmm?" I turn to her. "Oh, I just used a charm to see them. It lasts a lifetime. A book by … Jackson, something like that." Lily shakes her head and laughs.

"A charm from a book. I should have known." She turns to face me properly. "Come on." I look at the carriage, she grabs my arm. "The charm you idiot."

"Oh, right." I flick my wand from its holster and hold it between Lily's rather stunning eyes. "Close your eyes, it's a little unpleasant." She does so. "_Mors Manifesto." _She shivers as the mist washes over her face.

"Did you have to say it like that?" She frowns, eyes still closed.

"No, but it sounds better." I smirk. "You can look now." She quickly opens her eyes and jumps back from the thestrals.

"You could have said they were huge." She scolds me.

"The carriage await, M'lady." I say dramatically. She shakes her head and climbs into the carriage.

The thestrals start to move as we sit down and the door closes by itself. I hum as I browse an ancient runes textbook. The journey is only a short one. I snap my book shut as the door opens.

"I wish you wouldn't make all your books do that." Lily grumbles.

"Anything you need in particular?" I look around a the students and townsfolk.

"In here, I need some new uh … clothes." She says, blushing slightly. Underwear probably.

"As much as I wouldn't mind watching you model clothes, I'll wait out here." I drum my fingers on my book. She nods and enters the shop. This bench appears to have been placed here with men in mind. I sit down and read a section on runic locks.

"Franky!" A voice says a minute later. "Fancy seeing you outside." Potter.

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend. Students tend to come here to mingle." I say. Maybe I could join his feet to the floor with runes. Potter and Black sit either side of me.

"Mingle it is then." Potter says showily.

"So then, Franky." Black says. "What are you doing outside of a women's cloth shop? This is where I'd expect Snivelly to shop." They both stand up, Potter snatches my book as he does so. They take a few steps over to Lupin and Pettigrew.

"Ancient runes, eh?" Potter says. I stand up as well.

"A bit of light reading." I say smoothly. I turn sideways and tuck my left hand behind my back, extending my right arm forward. "I'd appreciate you giving me back my book. Madam Pince would be ever so upset if it were damaged." He throws it to Black, who 'accidentally' drops it in a puddle before picking it up.

"Oh shoot." Black says. "It's a bit wet now."

"I really would like my book back." I say.

"Come and get it." Potter says, taking it back. Ah, the old 'come and take it'. I flick my wand from it's holster, cast a silent 'accio' on the book, re-holster my wand and catch the book.

"Thank you, James." I transfer the book to my left hand. They draw their wands and point them at me. The tiny bell tingles behind me. "Ah, get everything you need Lily?" I ask, without turning. She steps beside me.

"You weren't fighting, were you?" She looks at my book. "Why is your book wet?"

"We were … mingling, and Sirius dropped my book, James was kind enough to return it to me." I'm incredibly proud of the fact that I'm not howling with laughter now.

"Four wands to pick up a book?" She asks sceptically. I shrug.

"I wouldn't call them the brightest students." I smirk.

"Wands away boys." A voice carries across the square. The blood drains from their faces as they fumble to put their wands away. McGonagall strides over, looking as calm as ever. "That's 10 points from Gryffindor." They protest. "_Each. _5 points for Ravenclaw for not starting a brawl in public."

"I can't accept points for not being a buffoon." I say earnestly. McGonagall looks as if she's deciding between taking the points back, or taking more for insulting them.

"5 points from Ravenclaw then." She says. "And off with you boys. Don't expect to be coming back for a few weeks." She shoos them away. I cast a drying charm on the book and open it to inspect the damages.

"The cover looks alright." I turn a few pages and groan. "The ink is running a bit here. Pince is going to skin me and bind a book with my hide." McGonagall holds out her hand, I pass her the book.

"I think, given the circumstances, Madam Pince will allow you to keep your skin." She says, looking at the ruined pages. "Mr. Sinatra, Ms. Evans." She turns and leaves.

"What just happened?" Lily asks a few seconds later.

"I'll tell you all about it over a couple of butterbeers."

* * *

"So you managed to get them in trouble and ruin a book?" She asks after I explain what happened.

"All in the time it took for you to buy lingerie." I say proudly.

"I wasn't buying lingerie!" She says hotly.

"Care to prove it?" I nod my head at the bag on the table, she snatches it and puts it under the table between her legs. My thoughts stray to vision of Lily wearing lingerie.

"Lily!" A girl says, sitting down beside her. Clearly not her first butterbeer, or even fifth.

"Alice, how many have you had?" She asks the girl. Alice Fortescue. One of the few people in my house who's name I know.

"Justa few." She slurs. This can't be legal. Maybe she talked Rosmerta into giving her something a little stronger. She looks at me with wide eyes and leans in close to Lily. "Izis _the boy_ you were telling me about?" She tries to whisper, but in her inebriated state, it doesn't go well.

"_The boy_?" I lean my elbows on the table.

"Alice!" A boy says, sitting beside her, grinning. "I wondered where you went." He takes a gulp of his own drink.

"Frank!" She says, pulling the boy into a kiss. Lily buries her face in her hands. "This is Frank too." She points at me.

"Longbottom." He reaches his hand over the table.

"Sinatra." I say, shaking his hand. His eyes widen slightly.

"Like the-"

"Singer. Yes." I laugh.

"Wasin thebag?" Alice slurs, dipping her hands under the table. Lily quickly picks up the bag.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Alice." She says. "We've got er, homework." She grabs my hand and leads me out of the pub before her friend can reveal any more secrets.

"Did you know that they brew those effects into butterbeer?" I say as we walk through Hogsmeade. "There's no actual alcohol in the drink, but liquid charms to make people more … jolly." Lily hasn't let go of my hand.

"Read it in a book, did you?" She twists our fingers so they now interlace. It feels nice.

* * *

It only takes Lily a couple more days to get really good with the switching charms. She can now switch jars of ink from a metre away, but only the whole thing. Switching the inks whilst leaving the jars the same isn't easy at all. Switching something that is obscured by glass or anything else adds a whole new set of challenges.

"You know Potter is going to try and get you back, right?" Lily asks me.

"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to already. I'm sure he could follow either of us here." Lily shakes her head.

"He's not allowed in the library unless accompanied by a teacher." She says with a smile. "He ruined a load of books in his second year. I don't know why he was chosen for prefect."

"Maybe because he's the living embodiment of Gryffindor brashness." I say. Lily laughs. "Fancy trying the dressing charm? It's handy if you oversleep." I flick my wand and Lily's chair shrinks along with the others. She squeaks and falls on the floor. "It's easy really. All you have to do is switch the air around your for the thing you want to put on.

"That doesn't sound easy at all." She grumbles, rubbing her thigh as she stands up. "How am I supposed to switch the air?"

"Think of the air around your body." I wave my hands over her form. "It's roughly the shape of you, so all you have to do is link up each joint with part of the robe." I flick my wand, removing her robe and having it appear on the table. "Kind of like a mannequin. So the elbow shaped piece of air corresponds to the elbow of the robe."

"And your 'undressing charm' just replace my clothes for air?" She doesn't look too happy at the apparent ease that I can unclothe her.

"Exactly! You can charm your clothes so they can't be targeted by switching charms of course." I look at her robe. "I thought school robes had that built in when they were made." I prod her robe with my finger.

"Wouldn't it be easier to learn the undressing part first because it doesn't need to be targeted?" I shrug.

"It's all just switching charms in the end, I suppose it'd be easier though." I flick my wand to remove my own robe, leaving it in a neatly folded pile beside Lily's.

"Show-off." She says. I stick my tongue out at her. "_Transibit._" Her jumper flaps onto the floor beside her. She cheers and jumps in the air. I clap and note that her shirt is a size too small. She repeats the spell and removes her shoes and tie.

"Ties are a pain to get on properly again. The knot usually goes wrong." I pull at my own tie.

* * *

**A/N: I changed the ending. Qoheleth made a good point.**


End file.
